Posted on Tuesday, 16 February 2016

A skier has captured the moment when his group encountered a snow leopard in the resort in Gulmarg in India.

The astonishing footage was taken by Australian Owen Lansbury, who was skiing with friends at the popular Indian resort.

Lansbury said the group's guide Dave Marchi almost ran into the leopard before moving out of the animal's way as it ran down the hill.

“We skied our first powder line and the guide in yellow almost ran over the leopard,” said Lansbury.

“I stopped just as it huddled in the snow, where it stayed for about a minute checking us out.

“It then let out a solid roar and bounded away down the slope towards Dave, but scooted off into the forest, where we think it probably had a kill stashed. Pretty amazing experience!”

Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-ba2Mb2grE.

Endangered

Snow leopards on the slopes are "rare" according to Tourism director Mehmood Ahmad Shah, who also told India Today: "I have number of times seen a leopard while skiing in Gulmarg. But I have not come across any snow leopard."

According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the endangered snow leopard is indeed elusive.

Poaching and destruction of habitat are two of the key reasons for the snow leopard's precarious position on the endangered list.

Chances of seeing a snow leopard on the slopes?

The likelihood of spotting a snow leopard on your next ski or snowboard trip are remote at best, even in the resorts of the Indian Himalayas. The snow leopard lives in 16 countries in central Asia.

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